COLUMBUS – In this corner, we have pro-pot group ResponsibleOhio with about $20 million to spend on advertising, a new bus headed to 88 counties and polls that say most Ohioans are fine with legalizing at least medicinal pot.

In the other corner, we have Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies, a group of pediatricians, manufacturers, farmers and police officers who say legalizing marijuana would put children at risk and create an oligopoly that’s bad for Ohio business.

Let Battle of the Blunt 2015 begin.

Last month, Wana Brands began marketing  WanaCaps XR, the world’s first extended-release cannabis capsule, in the company’s home state of Colorado.

Now, the Boulder-based company, whose main business is making cannabis-infused edibles, is looking to expand its market.

The state of Florida, which is about to designate five licensees to grow, process and sell non-euphoric cannabis extracts, is one of its targets.

Nearly a year after the state's six medical-marijuana dispensaries opened, patients are changing their habits.

For quick relief, they are smoking marijuana less and inhaling its vapours and therapeutic oils more, those in the industry say. Others are eating cookies or placing strips with the various active ingredients into their mouths to alleviate pain, nausea and seizures associated with the growing list of ailments.

Prices that a year ago were markedly more expensive than the underground market have dropped sharply and are now competitive, according to dispensaries, state officials and market analysts.

"When I started having success, I took the oil," said William McDonald, 42, of Monroe, referring to CBD extract, which does not induce a high.

ResponsibleOhio (RO) launched Monday a “Green Rush Bus Tour” to visit Ohio’s 88 counties to advocate for the group’s Marijuana Legalization Amendment, which would legalize marijuana use by adults and establish an Ohio Marijuana Control Commission to regulate retail and medical marijuana sales, distribution and cultivation.

USA Today partners 24/7 Wall Street are bullish on marijuana legalization in America.

Today, the outlets announced the next 11 states to legalize marijuana, based on public opinion polling, existing decriminalization, marijuana arrests, and marijuana use.

When the details of New York’s medical marijuana program were announced by the state Health Department they were met with hesitation. Dispensary locations, the scope of the program and the delivery methods were among the chief concerns as the rules were made public.

“The distribution of dispensaries around the state remains a major concern. Given the current proposed sites, there are huge areas of the state where patients will have to travel enormous distances to get medicine,” Julie Netherland, deputy state director at the Drug Policy Alliance, said when the state announced the five chosen medical marijuana producers in New York. “This is especially problematic given that many medical marijuana patients are sick and disabled and low income.”

J-Bo Wages of Dallas, Ga., kisses his 12-year-old daughter, Sydney, who suffers from intractable seizures and uses cannabis oil as a treatment, during her favorite activity riding on the family four-wheeler. The Wages family was among the very first to receive permission from the state to use low-dose cannabis oil without fear of prosecution.

As of last week, more than 130 patients have qualified for Georgia’s new medical marijuana registry after its first 50 days of business.

It's capable of causing serious harm to its users and those around them.

PHOENIX - The developing national marijuana industry is still sifting through labor disputes long since settled in other lines of work. 

Employees have found that no line of work is quite like marijuana - and not always in a good way. Most bosses must pay their workers in cash, hampered by federal laws that prevent many employers from opening bank accounts. For the vast majority, direct deposit is a pipe dream, health insurance a luxury, a matching 401(k) a foreign concept. 

"The marijuana industry is actually being treated worse than prostitution rings and gambling organizations, which is ridiculous," said Kim Houser, a professor of business law at Washington State University, where she studies the marijuana industry.

The author of the "Cannabis Manifesto" dishes on racist drug laws, hemp jewelry, and California's weed-fueled world domination.